DNA Nanotech Brings Precision Drug Monitoring to At-Home Use

By Bio-IT World Staff 

November 5, 2025 | For millions of patients prescribed drugs with a narrow therapeutic window, safe dosing depends on therapeutic drug monitoring. But outside of hospital labs equipped with specialized machines and trained staff, monitoring drug concentrations in real time has been largely out of reach. 

Alexis Vallée-Bélisle, Ph.D., chemistry professor at the University of Montreal, Canada Research Chair in Bioengineering and Bio-nanotechnology, and founder of the biotech startup Anasens, believes DNA nanotechnology holds the key to bringing this critical capability to the point of care—and even into patients’ homes. His team has engineered a platform that detects the concentration of molecules in a single drop of blood in only a few minutes. Measurements are done using inexpensive electronics similar to at-home glucose meters. 

At the heart of the platform is a kinetically programmed DNA “signaling cascade” inspired by cellular communication pathways. This technique was validated in a study, published in The Journal of the American Chemical Society (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c12059). The commercial goal is a universal multiplex platform for therapeutic monitoring that could be used in the clinic or at home, and the patient’s healthcare provider will have the results directly sent to them.  

Instead of relying on enzymes to initiate electrochemical reactions, which is a limitation of most biosensors, the system uses DNA aptamers, synthetic strands that fold to bind specific molecules. Once a target drug is detected, the cascade transmits a signal amplified enough to be read by a handheld potentiostat device connected to a smartphone app. 

The implications stretch far beyond patient self-testing. Anasens’ technology could become a companion diagnostic in clinical trials, giving pharmaceutical companies real-time pharmacokinetic data to fine-tune dosing.  

Currently, the platform is being piloted for illicit drug detection in saliva (under the product name DrugAsens), but prototypes for blood-based therapeutic drug monitoring are already in development. Future iterations aim to combine multiplexing with AI-driven analytics, flagging abnormal results directly to physicians. 

To read the full story written by Deborah Borfitz, visit Diagnostics World News.